I was told not to go into the woods
by Cat le Fleur
Summary: I was told not to go into the woods as an apprentice. I didn't listen.


Okay, so before we begin. A little bit about me; My name is Silverfoot, I'm a Shadowclan warrior, 62 moons of age, and the proud mother of two now fully grown warriors... and I have something to get off my chest.

I wish I had never went in the woods as an apprentice.

I-I know it sounds mousebrained, but it makes more sense with context. See, near our territory there's a desolate patch of woods that Shadowclan never claimed as territory. If you ever talked to any Shadowclan cat about it, they're probably going to tell you it's because a fox or a dog lives there, or if they're trying to scare you, a darkforest cat. But... truth is, it's something else.

I guess I should start from the beginning.

I was a newly-made apprentice, along with my two brothers and some friends. I still couldn't believe that I was _finally_ an apprentice, I had been giddy for moons in anticipation and I enjoyed every moment of being one.

Eventually, after a few days of hunting and practice fights, my brothers and I were given a tour of the territory. Everything was fine at first, we were shown everything from the thunderpath that separated us from Thunderclan, to the Carrionplace. It was boring for a six-moon-old apprentice like myself, until we reached the wooded patch.

It was isolated from Shadowclan territory, with a field of tall grass that was needed to traverse through. Tall, slender trees stood ominously, their darkened bark seemingly absorbed sunlight. It made my skin crawl just looking at it, but peaked my curiosity at the same time.

"What's that place called?" My brother, Blackpaw asked, curiosity in his leaf green eyes.

His mentor, Ravenwing, looked at him, "It doesn't have a name, but it's off limits." She replied, her long dark gray fur blowing in the breeze.

"That goes for you too, Whitepaw." My other brother's mentor, Pebblestep, said sternly as his gray tabby tail lashed behind him, fully aware of my brother's reputation for sneaking out of the nursery as a kit. Whitepaw just looked to the grass beneath him, embarrassed.

I looked up to my own mentor, Rowanfur, and she just nodded in a "same goes for you" fashion.

With that our tour ended, but we pestered our mentors the whole way back about those woods, but they didn't know anything. Leaving us empty pawed.

I wanted to know more about that place desperately. But I was too shy to ask any of the warriors, and asking our medicine cat - Finchflight - would be a stupid idea with how infamously antisocial he was. So I did the next best thing, I asked one of the older apprentices. Specifically, I asked Tigerpaw.

Tigerpaw (or Tigerpelt now) was a ginger tabby, with darker ginger stripes and green eyes. At the time, I thought he was the most handsome tom in the clans and I wanted to be mates, but it was an unrealistic goal, seeing that he was almost six moons older.

Anyway, I asked him that night if he knew anything about the woods. He just shrugged his shoulders and told me he had no clue, but that he wanted to give it a look, and that he didn't want to do it alone.

That gave me an idea. I'd sneak out during the night, give the woods a look-see, come back, and act as if I never left. At the time it seemed like a great idea; I would have bragging rights, respect, and I would even impress Tigerpaw. With all of that in mind, it seemed stupid not to go through with it.

So, that night, I snuck out of camp during high-moon.

Our territory was drastically different during the night from day. It was deathly silent; there was no birds chirping from the trees, and the dark made the territory appear grossly gloomy. I felt nervous, but I wanted to keep going. Nothing noteworthy happened, unless you count the wind rustling in the leaves as interesting.

Soon, I was standing in the spot our tour of the territory, staring straight at the woods. The looked ominous during the day. But at night. It was awful-looking for a cat just barely out of the nursery.

I began to have second thoughts. It was scary just looking at it, only Starclan knew how it was on the inside. But, I wanted to impress Tigerpaw, my brothers, and my friends. So I told myself that there was nothing in there; that there was no darkforest cat that snatched up naughty little kits, or dogs, or anything like that. It provided me a smidge comfort, and marching through the tall grass I went, and entered the woods.

It had been dark outside. But in the woods, I might as well have been blind. I felt like I was being suffocated by the dark. The thin trees loomed over me, growing out of the ground in random spots as dead bushes and ferns covered the forest floor. The air was cold and moist, what was strange. It was mid-greenleaf and the weather had been nice and warm.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and padded forward. The wind rustled through the woods, sounding like whispers. I felt like I shouldn't be there, that I was being watched and felt like eyes were boring into my back.

I turned around expecting the worst, believing I was going to come face to face with a darkforest cat, a malicious grin plastered on their face and their eyes like that of a spider watching a fly struggle to escape it's web. But I didn't see a thing.

I let out a shaky sigh of relief, only to find that I could see my own breath. I was in shock, I thought that could only happen in leaf-bare, not in the middle of the warmest season. Then, I realised how cold it really was. I began to shiver, it felt like someone replaced my pelt with ice.

I wanted to go home, I-I know I should have. But I kept going, feeling that if I didn't that my brothers and friends would think I was a scared little kit. Worst of all, Tigerpaw would look down on me.

The thought forced me to keep moving, no matter how cold I was. Soon, I notice small drops of something on the ground, and small, dried-up smears along the slender trees. Whatever they were was a mystery to me at the time.

I continued on. The mysterious stains became more common of a sight as the air became nearly unbearably frigid, I want about to head back, feeling that I had spent enough time there and I'd probably catch green-cough if I stayed any longer. I turned and began to leave.

Then, I heard it. The groaning.

It was soft and quiet at first, no louder than a low whisper. I wasn't even sure if I heard it. Then, it got louder, and louder, until I could hear it clearly. I felt frozen in place, like my paws were made of stone, as I felt fear force my heart to thump against my chest.

It was coming from behind me, and it was extremely close too.

I slowly turned around, my eyes wide. My paws moved me towards the groans, like they had a mind of their own. Against my better judgement, I move deeper into the woods. My blood could have been red ice for how freezing it was.

Soon, I walked into a clearing. Broken and fallen trees were scattered about the place, and grass only grew in scattered clumps, most of the ground was just dirt. By now, I was beginning to feel numb from the biting cold.

Then, I saw it.

I almost missed it with how dark it was. But, to this day, what I saw still chills me to the bone.

It was tall, impossibly tall for a cat. It's body looked like a skeleton with sickly pale skin wrapped around it. It's face was skull-like with either eyes that sunk far into it's head or sockets where it's eyes should have been, and it stared at the ground, hunched over.

I gasped in horror, my eyes went wide. I-I didn't know what it was but I knew it was far, _far_ worse than a darkforest cat or a dog.

It had heard me. It slowly craned it's neck up, and after what felt like eternity. It stared right at me. I felt my heart sink.

It just stared, and I felt unable to move. I was either paralysed by fear, or that _thing_ had so I couldn't run away. I'm still not sure if it had or not. It took one step forward and I snapped out of my fearful trance, turned, and ran as fast as I could. My heart was racing with panic. I raced out of the woods, and back onto Shadowclan territory. I didn't dare check to see if the monster was following me.

I burst into camp, and Pebblestep was walking out of the warriors den, presumably because he couldn't sleep. At first, his blue eyes widened with surprise, then he demanded to know why I had been out of camp.

I open my mouth to explain myself, but all that came out was confused and anxious gibberish. I think he realised something was off, because he told me to calm down, and tell him what I was terrified of. I did what I was told, but I never got sleep that night. I was too panicked, afraid that the thing would get me if I fell asleep.

The next day, I told Pebblestep what I saw. Don't think he believed me, but he kept a close eye on me for moons on end, and I'm thankful for it. But it never eased the feeling of being watched whenever I want too far from camp, or when I would randomly get cold and start violently shivering. I think ever since I saw that monster. I think it's been stalking me.

Why am I telling you this? Because, like I said, need to get it off my chest. But for the past couple of days, I've been seeing it the corner of my eye, and I hear it whispering to me, telling me to come back and that it misses me.

I think it's had enough of watching me now.

I-I think it's coming for me.

* * *

 **Well, that was easier to write than expected.**

 **Anyway, I wanted to try writing something horror-themed with warrior cats and I felt that I needed to work on my 1st person writing, so I decided to a horror one-shot in 1st person. Two birds, one stone and whatnot.**

 **This first time doing this kind of thing so I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism, thank you :^)**


End file.
